Scientists create artificial proteins from evolutionary ‘rules’
September 23, 2005 | Source: KurzweilAI
Scientists have created artificial proteins based on a set of simple “rules” that nature appears to use to design proteins. The artificial proteins look and function just like their natural counterparts.
The UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers tested the “rules” gleaned from the evolutionary record by feeding them into a computer program they developed. The program generated sequences of amino acids, which the researchers then “back-translated” to create artificial genes. Once inserted into laboratory bacteria, the genes produced artificial proteins as predicted.